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PC Preview - Nexagon : The Pit

Strategy First has a big slew of upcoming titles in the near future, either 3rd party developed or in-house titles. One of those is, the at first odd looking, Nexagon : The Pit offering a combination of action and real time strategy in a science fiction setting. Check our verdict (and njoy the screens).

Since the late 25th century, Earth's population has skyrocketed, and the face of our blue planet has been transformed into a complex grid of concrete, polymers and steel. Oxygen trickles into the atmosphere by virtue of precious biospheres that dot the skies in a suspended fragile mesh several miles above the surface. Humans toil and commute along side the masses of alien races that have since inhabited Earth's centres. Together they have concocted the most voluble and copious of environments known to mankind since the Garden of Eden.

At the turn of the fourth millennium, pessimistic speculation led philosophers to believe that Earth was bound for troubled times and that great suffering would engulf the helpless inhabitants. As usual, they were wrong. In fact, in the years following the brutish skirmishes near the Orion Nebula, a strong feeling of general well being seemed to permeate even into the darkest corners of parliament, where a wild and daring decision concerning the treatment of prisoners was made; a chance for freedom that would supply the Galaxy with an extraordinary new form of entertainment ... THE PIT.

Introduction

“Let’s get ready to rumble!” Nexagon the Pit offers all this and more, Gladiatorial combat at its best. A new type of “Chess” game as it where, describes Nexagon the Pit quite well. Nexagon offers a fun factor that I haven’t seen in a while, pure unadulterated violence. Sure FPS have been doing this for some time but just the notion of having a brute squad able to beat the stuffing out people hand to hand is something to savor. Well with that said lets get to it.

The Game

Based in the future, Nexagon The Pit is essentially a TV show owned and operated by a huge network company, called Musework, that seems to own everything else. The Pit is an arena were warriors fight to win money, and the ultimate prize their freedom. You are the manager of one team of brutes and you need to make sure your team wins so you can upgrade your battle arenas and hire new units. Also with winning comes the upgrading of units. Increasing attack, speed, or strength are just some of the areas you can modify with abilities point. So spend your abilities points as you see fit but it is vital to know what each of your unit does.

Your units are called Thralls and there a 4 types of Thralls , Massive no neck bouncer types called Golems, Brains, that I am guessing do smart stuff, Drones that are your regular “Soldier” type units and Moles which are fast and are used to operate the different stationary weapons. There are a total of 4 sides in Nexagon, and they are Tekhan (the “fantasy” based side(, Ghandros (the futuristic Terminator side), Sturnar (the industrial side), and the Olfrun (the out of this world Alien side). There are very few differences between each side apart for the cosmetics. Most of the units function the same way and have the same powers, but there attacks differ greatly. Take Sturnar for example, their Golems use guns to attack while Tekhan’s Golems use their brutish strength and fists. Basically, use each unit’s abilities wisely, for if you loose them they return to their cocoon where it takes precious credits to bring them back.

Credits, just about every aspect of the game cost credits. The credits are mainly used for the hiring of units to the construction of your arena. The better the fight the more credits you receive if you win, so go nuts, be sick, and mangle you enemies to no end, for it can only help you. Placement is also vital, determining unit placement can be at times the most important thing to worry about. You do not know how many units the enemy has nor do you know which types of units they are using. This is where the strategic planning comes into play, where to put your units? Every gamer has a different strategy so we won’t dabble in tactics.

Another cool feature is the game isn’t just based on the slaughtering of your enemies. There are objectives you need to meet in order to win, which I think gives this game the extra edge needed to hold its own in the sea of games out today. One of my personal favorite aspects of the games is the awards your thralls get at the end of the match, Most Damaging, and Most Defensive are just some of the awards you or your enemy can receive upon the outcome of the match. The rewards are tied in to the attitude of your thrall, which is another awesome feature; you can set the behavior of your thrall to either attack, hold ground, or a couple other temperaments.

All in all this game is fun and addicting, although it does need some optimizations and bug fixing, because at one point is slowed my system to a crawl and crashed on me many times in the middle of a match, but hey it’s a work in progress, and I am totally looking forward to the finished product. This game is definitly worth playing.

FEATURES

Nexagon is real time 3D tactics with a refreshing twist on action/strategy gaming.

Strike out into a completely destructible environment, where every structure, weapon, building or otherwise, can be entirely obliterated.

Fight battles online in one on one multiplayer match ups or connect as a spectator to watch the mayhem from front row center.